The anthrax road leads toward Saddam

Indianapolis Star ^ | December 22, 2001 | JAMES PATTERSON

[OKCSubmariner]

The current line from Washington is that the anthrax pestilence responsible for killing five people and making millions more anxious about the daily mail may have been home-grown.

A White House spokesman says evidence indicates that the anthrax may have originated from a domestic source. But spokesman Ari Fleischer came across as less than convincing.

"We're still looking," said Fleischer. "We've all got different feelings about it. We're gathering as much information (as possible)." Though he promised information about the probe would be released at the appropriate time, there is no reason to expect that investigators will be any closer to an answer next month.

Put simply, if they are looking for the source of the anthrax terror campaign in the United States, they are probably looking in the wrong place. A growing number of terrorism experts, from acclaimed consultant and author Yossef Bodansky of the Freeman Center for Strategic Studies to former Israeli intelligence operative William Northrop to author Elliot Goldenberg, say they have good reason to believe the road lined with anthrax spores leads straight to Baghdad.

Indeed, if the anthrax came from Saddam Hussein's suspected biochemical weapons program, which Goldenberg believes was aided by the U.S. government to offset the spread of radical Islamism, primarily from Iran, then the U.S. is unlikely to have the will to do anything about it.

Here's why. CNN reported a few days ago that former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said if the U.S. persists in maintaining its alliance with Israel, it risks "starting World War III."

Despite what Islamic countries indicate publicly, "Anti-Jewishness and anti-Judaism constitute a major political instrument in the hands of both state governments and Islamic terrorist organizations to mobilize the entire region for the destruction of Israel -- irrespective of diplomatic treaties, including the current peace process," Bodansky wrote.

It's the same line of information that U.S. Naval Intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard warned the Israelis about over and over again in the mid-1980s. Though the files that Pollard passed to Israel are still classified, he is the reason the Israeli public began building sealed rooms and stocking gas masks.

Instead of constructing nuclear bomb shelters, as were common in the U.S. during the Cold War, Israeli citizens began building air-tight rooms when documents that Pollard smuggled to their government showed Iraq was steeped in developing weapons of mass destruction.

Pollard, a Jew who grew up in South Bend, felt compelled to furnish Israel with intelligence vital to its security because higher-ups in U.S. intelligence were withholding the information, in spite of the 1983 U.S.-Israel Exchange of Information Agreement. The documents included satellite photos detailing Iraq's burgeoning biochemical weapons program.

"It was Pollard's information, according to my sources, that caused Israel to be on alert over what Saddam Hussein had and was ready to use," said Goldenberg, author of The Hunting Horse. "By the way, the Scuds (missiles) that landed in Tel Aviv were not carrying biochemical weapons. And I believe maybe some of them (that landed) in Saudi Arabia did have biochemical warheads."

If true, that means American GIs who fought during the Gulf War were exposed to biochemical weapons, which Pollard received a life sentence for warning the Israeli government about years earlier.

As everyone knows by now, Pollard was right about Iraq's budding biochemical weapons program. According to The New York Times, in August 1998, United Nations weapons inspectors discovered evidence that Iraq had at one time nearly 200 missiles and bombs with various biochemical warheads, including Botulinum toxin, Aflatoxin and anthrax.

Before scurrying out of town Thursday for Christmas, the House, in a joint resolution passed 392-12, demanded that Iraq allow weapons inspectors back in. Don't hold your breath.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Patterson is a Star editorial writer. Contact him at 1-317-444-6174

[OKCSubmariner]

Please see replies 19 and 20.

[VOA]

bump

[Jeremiah Jr]

Jeremiah 50

40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

Pangs as of a woman in travail, or Bush...

[OKCSubmariner]

Please see replies 18, 19 and 20.

[OKCSubmariner]

With respect ot reply #43:

Please see Numbers 24:24 where the prediction of Ashur being destroyed is a reference to modern day Iraq (not Assyria or Syria) in my opinion.

The first part of Numbers 24 is one of the earliest if not the earliest prophecies about the coming of my Messiah, of Jesus Christ in the Bible.

[flamefront]

Common sense tells me that it is very strange to think that the anthrax is from a domestic source. In the stunning wake of the WTC attack even regular crime dropped to a low. People were asking questions and were mournful. Out of this atmosphere, comes only a week later the anthrax attacks, through envelopes penned by what even the FBI admits appeared by the handwriting to be middle eastern writing. The timing could only associate the perpetrator with being sympathetic to the Saudis attacking the WTC.

It would take the ugly imagination of the leftist to think it came from some vast ___ conspiracy in the U.S.

[Orion78]

UN Warns US Against War Expansion (12/19/2001)
Just What Game Is Putin Playing? (07-01-2001)

[madrussian]

Should I take this to mean that you believe nothing should be done about Iraq and Saddam and his weapons of mass destruction.?

I'd like to consider proposals of what "should be done" first, while fully realizing the agenda some may have, and staying rational.

And when there are no facts that would prove what the title alleges, then I think it's worthwhile to point that out, no?

When you say "who doesn't have regional ambitions " are you including Russia ?

Russia clearly has interests there.

Russia and Putin I noticed warned the US recently not to take any action against the Russian client state of Iraq.

Well, not only Russia, but Europeans too are very sceptical. Wouldn't you be?

[Orion78]

Russia "categorically opposed" to military strikes against Iraq
Russia and US close in on new Iraqi sanctions regime
Russia seeks to enlarge authorized exports to Iraq
Russia Urges Israeli Restraint, Lauds Arafat Speech

[Uncle Bill]

BTTT!

Saddam's Fingerprints on 1993 N.Y. Bombings

I've been hearing how awake and serious Americans are now. Really? Who will be in charge of America's Cipro storage. Jocelyn Elders?

• Barbara Boxer - Chair on Subcommittee on Terrorism.
  
• Gary Condit - House Intelligence Committee.
  
• James Kallstrom, who led the FBI investigation of the crash of TWA Flight 800, was named by Pataki to head a new state Office of Public Security. God help us.
  
• Robert Mueller - Director of FBI (LOL!)
  
• New York Will Re-Elect communist Hillary Clinton.
  
• Tom Ridge - Homeland Security Press Conference - The only thing missing was Mary Jo White's rendition of The Yellow Brick Road. June 18, 2001. "With Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ripping apart obsolete defense doctrines to keep the United States on the cutting edge of world leadership, others, with a much lower profile, are working on a more fundamental issue: homeland security." Huh, imagine that.

  THE FBI AND THE MAD BOMBERS

  IRAQ TEMPTS BIN LADEN TO ATTACK WEST

  Contradicting Some U.S. Officials, 3 Scientists Call Anthrax Powder High-Grade
  "The experts noted that turning anthrax into a weapon of mass destruction still required added steps, like making the powder in quantity and learning how to disseminate it effectively. One expert said that only the United States, the Soviet Union and Iraq were known to have developed the necessary technique. But the experts said some officials were playing down the powder's potency out of ignorance or an impulse to reassure a frightened public."

  McVeigh's Ghost - Top Pentagon Officials Say Iraq Involved in OKC Bombing

  Was Tim McVeigh an agent of Iraq?

  Ex-CIA Microbiologist Reveals Iraqi Plot to Attack US With Biowarfare by 2002

  Saddam's Bombmaker on Anthrax Attacks: 'This Is Iraq!'

  Iraq's Plans to Target Media with Anthrax described in 1999 article "The poor man's atomic bomb"

  Hijacker met with Iraqi official

  One of the hijackers, who took part in last week's terrorist attacks, met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official prior to them, a US government source said.

  Pentagon recommends nuclear retaliation

  How Clinton Shielded Afghanistan
  Clinton's Sympathy For Marxist Terrorists
  Clinton's Clemency for Terrorists Is Unpardonable

  FBI FOREKNOWLEDGE: Laden Suspect (Moussauoi) in OKC Bombings and WTC Attacks Identified &Jailed

  CIA Reportedly Warned FBI About One Suspect (6 Stories of Prior Knowledge By FBI & Government)

---

Whatever Happened to Iraqgate? Was it swept under the rug because of the CIA - - or Hillary?

Iraqi Anthrax? -- Getting Closer - October 26, 2001

Cooking the Books
"The CIA has become a government unto itself – and, as such, is a threat to our very system and to our liberties. I know this is not fashionable to say these days, but we have to face facts:

1) They did a horrible job of predicting/preventing Sept. 11.

2) They have lashed out at Congress – the members of which are elected directly by the people – and tried to limit what information is shared with the 'people's representatives.' True, some congressmen are jerks and reveal top secret information. But CIA then uses that breach to justify keeping everyone in the dark.

3) They were just given an extra $1 billion by the president for the hunt for Osama bin Laden. And yet now Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells USA Today that we "may never find Osama bin Laden." What, then, are we paying all that money to the CIA for?

4) Iraq: clearly the CIA – through leaks from "government intelligence sources" – is trying to ignore/dismiss Iraq's role in both Sept. 11 and the ongoing anthrax attacks. The CIA is deliberately trying to steer American public opinion away from Saddam. In other words, instead of a straight assessment of gathered facts, they are 'cooking the books' to result in a pre-ordained conclusion.

For example, the CIA very clearly leaked to Murray Weiss of the New York Post on Thursday's front page that "ultra right wing organizations have become the key focus of the massive federal investigation into the murderous anthrax attacks."

Furthermore, the CIA has carefully leaked that of the three nations that manufacture this particular form of anthrax – Russia, Iraq and the United States – the federal authorities have "ruled out Russia and Iraq as sources of this strain of anthrax."

Oh, really?

Why are they ignoring the fact that Israeli intelligence now knows that lead hijacker Mohamed Atta picked up Iraqi-produced anthrax spores in Prague when he met with Iraqi intelligence official Achmed Al'ami on June 2, 2000, in a Prague café?

And that Atta was frequently known to have tried to learn all about cropdusting planes in Florida?

And that Atta once went to a Florida pharmacy for treatment of 'damaged hands'? Perhaps a case of cutaneous anthrax from handling the master supply he brought over with him from the Iraqis?"
[End of Partial Transcript]

Czechs confirm Atta met with Prague-based Iraqi diplomat

Atta may have carried Iraq anthrax to U.S. -report

U.S. CZECHS OUT ATTA'S TRIP

FBI moves in on Atta's Caribbean connection

Iraq may have produced up to 10 billion doses of anthrax, botulinum toxin and aflatoxin

U.S. gave antrhax to Iraq to use on Iran

Iran Says U.S. Paying for Giving Anthrax to Iraq

Saudi Nuclear Ambitions May Have Involved Iraq

ABC Radio News Reporting That Anthrax Spore Coating Used by Iraq

Hijacker 'Given Anthrax Flask By Iraqi Agent'

Iraq 'behind US anthrax outbreaks'

Iraq builds chemical weapons system 'capable of hitting European cities'

Iraqi nerve gas 'could paralyse western cities'

Anthrax clue to heroin deaths

Secret Germ Warfare Experiments

Terror Additive: Tests Find Laced Anthrax; Atta Met Iraqi - Full Story

NEED A BIOLOGICAL WAR? Labs sell anthrax germs by mail order

STORY OF ATTA-IRAQI MEETING CZECHS OUT - New York Post - October 27, 2001

Czechs confirm hijacker met Iraqi

Czechs Confirm Atta Met With Iraqi

---

ABC News: Anthrax Additive Tied to Saddam

ABC News: Anthrax Additive Tied to Saddam

NewsMax.com
Friday Oct. 26, 2001; 10:42 p.m. EDT

A substance attached to the anthrax in a letter sent to the offices of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle indicates that the deadly poison was concocted in Iraqi laboratories, confirming a report by an Iraqi weapons expert cited in a print exclusive by NewsMax.com earlier this week.

"An urgent series of tests conducted on the letter at Ft. Detrick, Md., and elsewhere discovered the anthrax spores were treated with bentonite," ABC News reported late Friday.

"As far as is known, only one country, Iraq, has used bentonite to produce biological weapons," ABC News said.

The unique Iragi biological component helps keep anthrax particles from sticking together, thereby making the substance more easily airborne and all the more deadly. Bentonite is considered by biological weapons experts to be an Iraqi "trademark," ABC News reported.

The discovery of benonite in the Daschle letter anthrax is the first evidentiary link between the wave of anthrax attacks that has hit the U.S. in the last two weeks and Saddam Hussein.

"It means to me that Iraq becomes the prime suspect as the source of anthrax used in these letters," former U.N. weapons inspector Timothy Trevan told ABC News.

Late Monday, the one-time head of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program, Dr. Khidhir Hamza, said that there was no doubt Iraq had produced the anthrax used in the current wave of bioterror attacks on the U.S.

"This is Iraq," Dr.Hamza told CNBC's "Rivera Live." "This is Iraq's work."

"Nobody (else) has the expertise outside the U.S. and outside the major powers who work on germ warfare. Nobody has the expertise and has any motive to attack the U.S. except Saddam to do this. This is Iraq. This is Saddam," Dr. Hamza said.

NewsMax.com was the only print outlet to report Dr. Hamza's coments.
[End of Transcript]

"I believe the FBI can, and must, do a better job dealing with mistakes. If I have the honor of being confirmed by the Senate I will make it my highest priority to restore the public's confidence in the FBI:- to re-earn the faith and trust of the American people."
Robert Mueller

Researcher: Iraq attempted to smuggle anthrax to U.S., Britain - October 27, 2001
"TEL AVIV — Iraq has attempted to smuggle large quantities of anthrax into Britain and the United States, an Israeli analyst says.

Dany Shoham, a research associate at Tel Aviv University's Begin-Sadat Center of Strategic Studies, said the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein attempted to bring biological weapons agents into Britain and the United States in 1998. The attempt was reported by Israeli intelligence.

At the time, Shoham said, Iraqi women agents arriving in the United States were hiding vials filled with biological agents under their dresses.

Iraq was also attempting to smuggle biological and chemical agents into Britain hidden in duty-free goods.

Shoham, a reserve intelligence officer with close ties to Western intelligence agencies, said the Iraqi effort was foiled by British authorities. He suggested that Iraq succeeded in bringing the anthrax virus into the United States."

.

[OKCSubmariner]

Please see if there is another workable link for this story from your reply #30:

Researcher: Iraq attempted to smuggle anthrax to U.S., Britain - October 27, 2001

When I clicked on the link provided in reply #30 it came up with a WorldCongress.com article abour Arafat instead.

Much thanks for all of your reply #30. It was great.

[Orion78]

Putin threat to pull out of coalition if US attacks Iraq

[nunya bidness]

.

[_Jim]

Was is your story:

"The anthrax road leads toward Saddam"

So at odds with the domestic terrorist theory in this story:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/595458/posts

The FBI, theorizing that the bioterrorist responsible for America's anthrax scare was inoculated against the disease, is checking government workers and contractors who have been vaccinated or have had access to the vaccine, sources say.

...

The group includes about 200 scientists and lab employees who handle anthrax regularly, and a few dozen more former workers.

And this story:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/595214/posts

Federal anthrax researchers are attempting to match the strain that killed a Boca Raton man and four others to a weaponized strain secretly manufactured at a U.S. military facility in the Utah desert, according to sources familiar with the probe. Agents are examining lab workers and researchers who had access to the weaponized, powdered anthrax grown at the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Grounds and later supplied to Battelle Memorial Institute, a military research company based in Columbus, Ohio.

Among those interviewed include a fired researcher at Battelle who, according to FBI records, made remarks about an anthrax project in the basement of his Milwaukee home.

And this story:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/594718/posts

Anthrax probe into US project

At the centre of the inquiry is an army testing facility in Utah

The inquiry into the anthrax letters sent to politicians and media organisations in America is focusing on the US Government's little-known programme to produce "weapons-grade" anthrax, US reports say.

Investigators suspect that a rogue scientist may have obtained access to samples of the bacteria.

On second thought, never mind concocting up a 'reason' why these stories are at odds with 'your' story. I *think* I already know the reason.

[_Jim]

First word in very first sentence:

Why = Was

[Buckeroo]

It is good for government to scare you about government's inability to protect you. In this way, they steal your rights and liberties and motivate you towards higher taxes.

America is on the road to facism, similar to pre-WW2 NAZI Germany and you let it happen.

[gjenkins]

Ominous Parallels? Ping!

[_Jim]

It is good for government to scare you about government's inability to protect you.

I know you're writing that tounge-in-cheek - but it *is* true that only you and you alone can truly be responsible and insure your own safety and security.

There is a limit, though, for instance I don't possess enough fire power or munitions to wage war against an adversary that *may* have the fire power and munitions to wipe me out.

Isn't gov't force and action in a case such as that warranted (this is aside from civil power and authority claimed by "gov't")?

[_Jim]

America is on the road to facism, similar to pre-WW2 NAZI Germany and you let it happen.

I don't possess as pessimistic a view as you do on this subject, but from my perspective I don't believe we are on that road to facism - and I certainly haven't campaigned or in any way 'voted' for it via my choices for congress or the presidency.

I will admit that there are those that vote demoRAT in my family - I believe my parents are dyed-in-the-wool Demoncrats - since all business is evil and corporations have only the little guy in their sights as as the means to their 'wealth'. A mistaken position they assumed under the guise of 'entertainment' and 'indoctrination' programs like Phil Donahue and the SeeBS evening news ...

[Buckeroo]

"There is a limit, though, for instance I don't possess enough fire power or munitions to wage war against an adversary that *may* have the fire power and munitions to wipe me out." -- _Jim

I see you admit that you are singularly responsible for today's America. Don't worry ... real Americans are taking up your careless and slacking methods of irresponsibility about our nation.

We are taking America back.